Month: June 2014

The Memphis Police Association and fire union have advertised a peaceful rally for tomorrow. They are asking those who support Memphis police and firefighters to gather at City Hall from noon to 3 PM tomorrow, before the City Council meeting.

USA Today has an article called Romantic Memphis, discussing all the romantic things there are to do in our fair city. Almost all of the locations mentioned were Downtown, including Paulette’s, Chez Philippe, and Itta Bena. PRO TIP for the ladies: Make your date extra romantic by wearing a tube top.

Do you drive a GM car? Better click this link. Over 7.6 million of their cars have been recalled due to faulty ignition switches, dating back as far as 1997 and including discontinued brands Oldsmobile and Pontiac as well as current brands.

Days like yesterday make me think I live a sheltered life in my Downtown high-rise apartment building. I woke up yesterday morning, did a blog post, looked out the window and thought, “Oh, it rained?” I didn’t know how bad it rained until I got to Bloom’s bar at Bardog, got bored, and started surfing Twitter and Facebook on my phone. Several of my friends posted images of their flooded houses, and MemphisWeather.net posted that we got more rain Saturday-Sunday than we normally get in the entire month of June. Yikes! My sincerest sympathy to those of you dealing with water damage or who were otherwise affected by the flooding yesterday.

The Peabody is having a special edition of its weekly rooftop party this Thursday, July 3 to kick off the long July 4 weekend. A popular band on the college party circuit, The 17th Floor, will play high-energy dance music, hip-hop, and R&B. The party lasts from 6 to 11 that evening, and your $15 admission includes a buffet that is a tribute to the all-American backyard barbecue, with fried chicken, hamburgers, potato salad, deviled eggs, pasta salad, and potato chips.

The Silly Goose has announced an early opening time for tomorrow’s USA vs. Belgium soccer match. The match begins at 3:00. I would imagine that all the other Downtown bars that opened early for last week’s USA-GER game will follow suit. In case you haven’t heard the breaking news, Jozy Altidore will be available for tomorrow’s match.

You know, I watched soccer both Saturday and yesterday, with temps in the 80s and heat indexes in the 90s, and I did not see even one tube top in the stands. What’s wrong with Brazilians? Go to an NFL game at similar temperatures and I guarantee you will see some tube tops. One more reason why American football is better than soccer football.

I had a good time watching WWE Money in the Bank on the WWE Network last night. Here’s a fun fact for you wrestling fans: Terry Funk turned 70 today. I was too young to be watching wrestling during his NWA championship reign, but I saw his feud with Ric Flair in 1989 which was one of the best ever, and he went on to be ECW World Champion in his mid-50s. He was also a mentor to an up-and-coming Cactus Jack/Mick Foley.

That’s all for now. I will be bringing my wooden nickel to Melissa Monday tonight at Bardog after work, followed by Pint Nite at the Saucer.

We’re in the middle of a rarely-issued flash flood emergency this morning. If you don’t have to drive, don’t. Quick reminder of a couple of things going on today: Canada Day at Kooky Canuck, all day long. Canadian beer and whisky specials, Canadian menu, and a $100 gift card to the person who dresses the most Canadian. This is always a fun, fun day at Kooky. Crawfish boil at the Green Beetle. Crawfish will be out about 3. $10 per pound and they come with corn and taters. Live music.

The Bitchy Bingo dream I posted about yesterday morning led to me running into a couple of people who said, “Hey, I read your post. I used to live in San Diego too.” Now that I have three weeks vacation a year, I need to plan a trip out there in 2015. Here’s what I would do: Double double animal style, Mission Beach/Pacific Beach boardwalk, Mexican fast food restaurant whose name ends in -berto’s, cactus garden in Balboa Park, roast pig at that Hawaiian restaurant at Mission Boulevard and Pacific Beach Drive, a trip to The Living Room coffee shop, fish tacos, that store in the mall Downtown that sells nothing but kites, Ocean Beach farmers market, World Curry, a stroll down Adams Avenue in Normal Heights, Trader Joe’s, burrito Enchilado style at Baja Fresh. Two places I would not go are Tijuana (SUPER GROSS) and Black’s Beach (the clothing optional one; EQUALLY GROSS and a shame because it’s the area’s most naturally pretty beach). Now I just need to find a tube top snuggle bug who’s never been to Cali to take out there and show a good time.

Just for kicks, I got on an apartment hunter website and searched for a 1 BR/1 BA apartment in Downtown San Diego comparable to what I have at Number 10 Main. $2300 a month. In case you’re wondering why I moved back to Memphis…

That’ll do it for now. I will kick things off at Bloom’s bar at Bardog at 11 then hopefully will make it to Kooky and crawfish this afternoon. There is a pay-per-view on the WWE Network so I will not be playing poker tonight.

… but before I get to the news, I have to share a dream I had last night.

From June through December 2000, I lived in San Diego as kind of an escape from Memphis and the South in general. The neighborhood where I worked, a couple of miles inland from the coast, was called Hillcrest and it was the predominately gay area of the city. During my lunch breaks I would take walks (since the weather there is nice pretty much 365 days a year) and would walk past this bar where all the servers were drag queens. On Wednesday nights they had “Bitchy Bingo.” So I dreamed that the 2014 Downtown Memphis crew went to Bitchy Bingo. It was a celebration of our friend Nikki’s birthday (which happened in real life last night at Blind Bear).

One of the drag queens who was working came up to our table and said, “I want my photo taken for Tube Top Month.”

I replied, “Well… this won’t exactly qualify for Tube Top Month…”

He/she said, “Why? Because I have on a corset top and not an authentic tube top? I didn’t think you straights gave a shit about that. I thought all you cared about is that it doesn’t have straps.”

“Ummm… well, that’s not the reason it wouldn’t qualify…” I replied.

He/she stared at me for a minute and then gasped. “It’s because I’m a MAN isn’t it??!!?!? See if I EVER put extra ice cubes in your glass of Coke again! BITCH!!!!!!” and then stormed off indignantly.

I have awesome dreams and we need a bar Downtown with drag queens. The rest of Memphis would hate it but Downtowners, Midtowners and tourists would keep it in business.

Okay, on to the news. I have some very important news to report this morning.

Last night I got home and was making a minor change to our website at work, and trying to decide whether Bardog or Flying Saucer would be my lead-off point for the night. Then I got a text message that changed my plans. “The Silly Goose has $4 mini-pitchers of PBR,” the message said. Well, that changed everything! I certainly wouldn’t want to deprive my readers of very important PBR news. I changed clothes and walked to the Goose.

I got two and a half pint glasses out of the pitcher, leading me to believe it holds 40 ounces. It kept me going for a solid hour without having to ask Nancy for a refill. So, when should you order this as opposed to ordering one pint at a time?

When you plan on being around for a while. Obviously it takes longer to drink 40 ounces of beer than it does 16.

When it’s not happy hour. You get 40 ounces of beer for $4, as opposed to 32 if you ordered by the glass. During happy hour, ordering by the glass is a better value.

When the bar’s busy and you don’t want to wait on refills.

When sharing with someone.

Really, I’m happy to see inexpensive PBR no matter what it’s served in.

There’s more news in my “Friday update #2” post. Keep scrolling down if you haven’t seen it. I’ll be at Bardog at 11 as usual. Panda is on vacation so we’ve got Bloom this week.

I.M. is an abbreviation for Instant Message. Example: “I.M. me if you want to meet up tonight.”

I.M. Pei is a famous Chinese-American architect.

I.M. Allaboutthetubetops is a blogger who writes about his life in Downtown Memphis.

Grizzlies controlling owner Robert Pera stopped by the Chris Vernon Show today on 92.9 ESPN Radio. Verno thought he only had Pera for one segment, but Pera was incredibly cool and said “I’m here as long as you want” and “let’s take some phone calls.” The result? 1 hour and 42 minutes of Pera opening himself up to the public. I haven’t heard it myself yet (was busy at work) but from everything I have read, this is a must, must, must listen if you’re at all interested in the Grizzlies.

Cordova is about to get a Kooky Canuck. The MBJ reports that a second Kooky location is planned for 1250 N. Germantown Parkway. A quick Google Maps search reveals that this would be near the intersection of Cordova Road, near Bonefish Grill and Party City. The original Downtown Kooky Canuck location has been open nine years.

On Tuesday, July 1, Chez Philippe in the Peabody will host a special dinner celebrating the 200th anniversary of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” composed by Francis Scott Key in 1814 and which became our national anthem later. Guests will gather around the Peabody’s antique mahogany piano, owned by Key himself two centuries ago, for a champagne toast. The dinner menu will feature cuisine from Key’s home state of Maryland. $85 per person with an optional wine pairing upgrade available.

BREAKING NEWS: Zach Randolph will exercise his $16.5 million player option with the Grizzlies for 2014-15 and has signed a 2-year, $20 million extension for 2015-17. Great move for everyone involved. Thank you Grizzlies and thank you Z-bo! (credit to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports)

I don’t mind the city reducing Riverside Drive to two lanes to allow space for bike and pedestrian use, but with that in place can they PLEASE enforce the “no trucks on Riverside” rule? This morning I was five minutes late to work because a dozen other drivers and I were stuck behind a tractor-trailer doing approximately 18 mph from Beale to Georgia.

Beale Street Landing had its grand opening at 10 today. There will be a celebration tomorrow with the Bo-Keys, Marcella and her Lovers, and Trio Plus from noon to 7. It’s pretty cool that the landing has the only Downtown playground for children 10 and younger. It’s not so cool that the landing took a decade to finish and cost taxpayers $43 million. On Saturday the official opening (with speakers) is from noon to 1, then live music 1 to 7. Maybe I will wander down there after my usual Bardog stop. I will make sure my Bardog stop lasts until at least 1 so I don’t have to listen to the speakers. Then again, the Blind Bear and the Flying Saucer are on the way to the landing from Bardog (the Saucer isn’t really, but humor me here) so I might get down there even later than 1.

If you’re going to the Redbirds game tomorrow, buy your tickets online. If you do that and enter code STJUDE at checkout, $5 of the ticket price will be donated to St. Jude. First 500 to purchase this special ticket receive a special commemorative St. Jude baseball T-shirt. First pitch is 6:05 PM (gates open at 5) with fireworks after the game. Round Rock is the opponent.

Kooky Canuck celebrates Canada Day all day Sunday, June 29. They’ll have $4 Forty Creek, and 2 for 1 Canadian beer bottles. The restaurant has 32 Canadian whiskys. Wear Canadian colors or hockey jerseys. $100 gift certificate to the person dressed the most “Canadian.” Special menu:

City Market has been stepping it up big time in terms of grab & go food. They’ve been doing these go-boxes which are perfect for a late night snack or to take to work the next day for lunch. This is the tuna salad plate with cheese, fruit and crackers, but I have had the hummus plate as well and it is excellent.

Most definitely appreciated. On the nights when I think I might not make it to lunch the following day, this will give me something to take to work.

Bedtime. If you’re a tube topper and you know where I live don’t be shy about coming over and waking me up.

I’ve had a few people ask if/when there will be fireworks Downtown to celebrate Independence Day. There will in fact be two such celebrations: One on Mud Island (and therefore visible from the river walk/Tom Lee Park/rooftops) and the other after the Redbirds game. Both will be on the Fourth. Thanks to Holly’s awesome July 4 post for the information.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Tube Top Month does not end on June 30 anymore. It ends with Independence Day weekend, which would be July 6 this year. So it will still be Tube Top Month on the Fourth. Please keep this in mind and dress appropriately.

Many locally-owned restaurants close on the Fourth, but Jamaican restaurant Evelyn & Olive has announced that they will be open and will be serving jerk pork shoulder. Evelyn & Olive is on Madison about a block east of Danny Thomas.

Clothing boutique/salon Sache has announced that there are open positions. They are looking for retail sales, screen printing, event sales and office clerical expertise. Apply in-store.

Home from work. Since my regular Thursday Silly Goose bartender Jessica is at the beach this week, I’m going to switch things up and lead off at Bardog tonight for happy hour. Any and all tube topsters are invited to join.

BREAKING NEWS: USA loses to Germany 1-0, and Portugal beats Ghana 2-1. The USA survives the Group of Death to advance to the World Cup knockout round. USA! USA!

The Downtown Memphis Commission has launched Canine Confessions, a series of videos by Downtown dogs who are deeply embarrassed that their owners don’t pick up after them. Please be a good neighbor and scoop the poop! Or invest in a Poo Trap.

If you’re looking for something free, fun, and healthy to do this weekend, there will be free chlamydia and gonorrhea testing at 1470 Elvis Presley Boulevard from 10 AM to 3 PM Saturday.

There will be a Pink Pig Apparel pop-up shop across from Bluff City Coffee at South Main Trolley Night tomorrow 6-9 PM.

Transit headlines the Peabody rooftop party tonight. $10 at the door, ladies free until 7. Admission includes a buffet of fried green tomatoes and po’boy sandwiches. If you’re in VIP you have a second buffet of muffaletas, red beans and rice, and fried shrimp. The Q 107.5/96.1 hosts the party and DJ Mark Anderson will spin tunes when the band is on break. The rooftop is a place to see and be seen, so why not be seen in a tube top?

So, Luis Suarez is banned from the rest of the World Cup and all soccer-related activity for four months. I guess he’ll be on his way home to Uruguay then. Since Uruguay is south of Brazil, would that make him South Bound Suarez? #inthroughtheoutdoor

(Yes, I know it’s “Saurez” in the official song title)

Glad so many of my friends went to bars this morning to watch USA-GER. I’m sitting here paginating datasets returned by a SQL query. FUN! I’ll be out at the usual spots after work.